Month: August 2018

Sean Barie and Nick Shook discuss a theft of $98,000 worth of Ramen noodles — but was it really worth nearly $100,000? Yahoo! Sports’ Matt Harmon joins the duo to discuss the latest NFL headlines (including Odell Beckham Jr.’s payday) and go all in for the podcast’s first fantasy football extravaganza. The group also discusses the upcoming college football season and Sean regales us with a tale of how he learned pickleball.

Sean Barie and Nick Shook discuss Week 1 of the NFL preseason and its young stars, reminisce over memorable punishments (after Antonio Callaway’s on-field sentence), recap Tiger Woods’ exciting weekend and finish with an explanation of why Jalen Ramsey is in the wrong in his battle against local media. Rate and subscribe on iTunes and Soundcloud!

On the surface, it seemed fitting a team that struggled to protect Palmer would see its starter knocked out for the season when it failed to pick up a blitz. Ironically, though, a running back (Adrian Peterson) missed the block that sent Palmer to the ground, where he suffered the broken arm that ended his final season in the NFL.

The fate of the Broncos, like many teams, will begin and end with the performance of their offensive line.

That much was evident in a short preseason debut for quarterback Case Keenum, a star for a very successful 2017 Minnesota Vikings team who saw a bunch of familiar faces lining up against him on Saturday. His new teammates didn’t do the greatest job of giving him time to throw.

Lulls in between plays not included, you could watch Keenum’s entire performance in the same amount of time it would take you to heat up that low-calorie frozen dinner (don’t forget to cut a vent in the plastic and stir the contents!). Keenum opened the drive with a quick out to Demaryius Thomas, who made Vikings linebacker Ben Gedeon miss before picking up the majority of his 5-yard gain. A false start on the next play erased that gain and forced Keenum into a third-and-7, which resulted in an incomplete pass intended for Courtland Sutton and a punt. Continue reading →

Playing with the second-string linemen for the majority of his stint, Rosen was subjected to constant pressure, but rarely crumbled. The rookie felt and evaded pressure, escaping the pocket before resetting and completing his best pass of the night, a 21-yard strike to tight end Gabe Holmes. Continue reading →

The anointed man under center looked every bit as advertised in his lone drive versus the Denver Broncos, completing all four of his pass attempts for 42 yards and a touchdown for the Minnesota Vikings in their 42-28 win. The yards and perfect completion percentage don’t quite jump off the page, but the tape will, length aside.

Cousins was confident, precise and looked as comfortable as a new quarterback will ever look. Buoyed by two 20-plus-yard runs by Latavius Murray, Cousins was free to test things out with Stefon Diggs, and all three worked out. Cousins first found Diggs for six yards to open the drive, and then made a key completion, connecting with Diggs on a perfectly placed pass over the shoulder of Bradley Roby for a 28-yard gain. It was the first throw that showed why Minnesota handed the keys and a fully guaranteed contract to Cousins. Continue reading →

A great offense begins with a reliable, effective offensive line. That cannot be overstated.

The offensive line serves as the first line of defense, of protection and of action. The front five open holes for running backs, protect a quarterback, provide adequate time for receivers to get open and for passers to deliver the ball on time and on target.

But what about when one of those five is forced off the field by injury? What happens when a once-impassable wall shows a crack?

As it goes in football, next man up. The first sign of weakness is what separates the good from the forgotten. In 2017, we received one of the best examples.

Let’s dive into the unheralded but vital role of the swing lineman: The sixth man who approaches each week ready to contribute, to step up when another goes down, and to contribute in a role that lacks notoriety but becomes just as important when called into action. Continue reading →

The Jets surprised many in 2017 by winning five games when they — not the Browns, who ended up winless — were expected to be the league’s worst team.

A standout youngster says that even with those victories, New York did it by going through the motions, not by giving the maximum effort.

“Everybody was used to losing,” Jets safety Jamal Adams told Bleacher Report. “You can always tell that vibe. I came in, and it was like everybody wanted to do the bare minimum. They didn’t want to go above and beyond. They didn’t want to take that extra step.

“They didn’t want to be uncomfortable, [but] to be great, you have to be uncomfortable. You have to be willing to sacrifice and willing to do the little things. And the team, the organization, just wasn’t doing those things.” Continue reading →

Sean Barie and Nick Shook discuss the best moments of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and bring in a colleague of Nick’s (NFL Media’s Brooke Cersosimo) for an inside look at two of the most notable new enshrinees: Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. The duo also discusses the Urban Meyer situation at Ohio State and the president’s attack on LeBron James, and dives back into story time for a rare form of competition and a rant against Planet Fitness. Rate and subscribe on iTunes and Soundcloud!